Sunday, April 26, 2015

While Sally is strolling down memory lane, she brings Kate to Rainbow's End in hopes to convince her to slow down and little and enjoy life. Kate isn't too sure about her decision to take a month off of her life. Greg is reevaluating his life. Roy is just trudging through his life.

Rainbow's End isn't all that Sally remembered. The town is empty and somewhat sad.

I love how this story questions the "American Dream" to me. Successful job. Fancy House. Loads of money. These things should make you happy. These things should leave you feeling successful, and full of life. Right?

There are many other characters in this book, that Cabot leaves us wondering what happens in their life.

Sally, Kate, Greg and Roy learn together in this fun
romance.They learn what is
important.I believe they learn that
anything they seek, besides Jesus, leaves them empty.

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

"We are a performance-based people, which is completely ironic, because out performance every day is far less than perfect." In Everyday Grace Jessica Thompson teaches about relationships, and WHO should be the center of those relationships. Her point it that we can do nothing on our own to have deep relationships.

She uses the example of Adam and Eve, and how they lived in perfect harmony until they made the choice to sin. After that they blamed each other, pointed fingers at each other and hid from God. I loved when she said, "Owning our OWN mess will make us gracious toward everybody else who is a mess also. We won't place crazy expectations on others, because we will know that we can't even fulfill those expectations ourselves." TRUTH! This is something I wish I would have learned when I was younger - BORN maybe?!

Thompson discusses how showing love towards others isn't just an option, it is a command! We can do nice things for people. We can ACT like we love them. Our most important thing is loving the people!

Thompson also points out that our friends AREN'T Jesus, and we shouldn't try to place them in that role! Doing this places unrealistic expectations on people, and takes away our need for Jesus! When we put anything in Jesus' place, it becomes an idol!

Everyday Grace is a good book that has plenty of great information - or reminders depending on where you are coming from.

Saturday, April 18, 2015

Marlena is sent to live with her grandmother after her
grandfather’s death.Although this isn’t
where she wanted to spend her summer, she went along like a dutiful Amish
girl.While there another tragedy
strikes her family, and she is given a baby to look after.

Small Jay is a young boy who lives next door to Marlena’s
grandmother.He has some disabilities
that cause his somewhat harsh father to look past him.Fortunately, Small Jay meets Boston, a hobo,
who sees the value of Small Jay.

While both these stories play out Marlena is conflicted
about where she stands with the church – Old Order, New Order, or
Mennonite.The man she loves is Old
Order, and is somewhat against some of the circumstances she is facing.

I like how Beverly Lewis brings in the searching for The One
True God.I also like how she takes the
‘weak’ and makes them ‘strong.’However,
this wasn’t one of my favorite Beverly Lewis books.I found the story to be slow.

Thursday, April 16, 2015

The Disappearance of Emily H.

Barrie Summy

Let me
start by saying I am an adult reading this book that targets ages 10 and
up.Thank you Delacorte
Books for Young Readers for the advanced reader copy.

Raine is a middle school girl with
somewhat of a 6th sense.She
is able to see “sparkles” on people that allow her to see into their
lives.She lives
with her mom who really doesn’t understand what it means to be a mom.They move from place to place – mom from
boyfriend to a fresh start.Raine finds
herself, again, the new girl in the school. The story contains the stereotypical people in
the school: mean girls, cute boys, socially awkward former homeschooled girl,
bullies – I could go on.

Mysteries
start to surface, and Raine uses her 6th sense to figure them
out.How to handle bullies is a thread
throughout this story.Since Raine have
moved several times, she is able to easily spot the different ‘social groups.’

Will
Raine solve the mystery?Will the
bullies get their due?I don’t want to
be a spoiler! Not my favorite book I have ever read.

Preconceived impressions can be
dangerous!Keeping past wrongdoings in a
present mindset can also be dangerous.Elle Stoneburner is going along with what her family has decided is best
for her life.She finds herself jobless,
and at the mercy of a complicated man, Dexter Blakeley.Even with his complications he provides a
home and a job for Elle.Although the
job requires her to deal with 3 women with past issues, Elle tries to make the
best of it.Who is this Estella?(I won’t spoil it for you!)

Elle’s past has her believing that
she is invisible – unnoticed.Dexter’s past has built a wall around his
heart.

Dawn Crandall does a great job of
developing her characters.I like how
she lets you in on their persona, but not all the way in.She feeds you little tidbits about them as
you continue to read.Her style really
holds my interest, which is saying plenty about my ADD mind! Crandall also weaves minor characters into the
story, and although they are flat, you understand who they really are.

Dawn Crandall also does a great job
“painting her picture with words.”I
feel as though I could draw Everston, the spring, and the church in the hollow.

I am left wondering what happens to
Vance?Violet?And what about Roxy?

A
verse that kept coming to my mind while reading this book was:

Isaiah 43:18-19New International Version (NIV)

18 “Forget the former
things;
do not dwell on the past.19 See, I am doing a
new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
and streams in the wasteland.

For me it is so easy
to hold on to preconceived ideas about people, or wrongs that have been done to
me (or my people) in the past.However,
it is wrong.Christ often uses our past
in our future.

One of my favorite quotes from the
book is this one: “After all, no one is perfect.But that’s part of the commitment you make
when you marry – to always love your spouse, flaws and all.” OH, if people
would live this statement in real life there would be fewer broken homes.

I have read all three books in this
series, and although I enjoyed the first 2, this one was my favorite!READ THIS BOOK!

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

Decisions always have consequences - good or bad. Often decisions, which can and will affect other people, are made without knowing ALL the details.

Vanessa Hollister grew up in a military family. Logan Hollister's family had roots in Florida. Vanessa and Logan made a commitment when they were very young. Under communication. Selfishness. Immaturity. These were things that led to years of relational drought.

Crazy Little Thing Called Love is a great story of repentance and reconciliation. I loved this story because you could feel the tension and passion. It was easy to see how difficult it was for Vanessa and Logan to let go of the past, and for trust to be given.

I love, love, LOVE stories of reconciliation! In today's world these stories are few and far between. We need more stories like this - more books that focus on doing the difficult things which lead to reconciliation!

About Me

I am a chicken! I am not a risk taker. I am trying to take baby steps towards becoming less "chickeny"! I am a wife of 1, mother of 4 ages 26-18. Jesus follower, homeschool mom, history teacher are all samples of titles I would put on myself. I love to laugh and learn. When reading I usually have a 5 chapter rule. If I am not hooked by the end of the 5th chapter, I move on to the next book. Fortunately, I never find myself with nothing to read!